Destination Cleveland used its 2014 annual meeting Monday afternoon at Quicken Loans Arena to celebrate how Northeast Ohio is soaring in the eyes of vacationers, the national travel industry and meeting planners — a growing stature capped by the city’s attraction of the 2016 Republican National Convention.

“The world is taking notice,” David Gilbert, president and CEO of Destination Cleveland, told 1,000 civic, travel and hospitality industry leaders. He rattled off a handful of travel media organizations that have put Cleveland on their 2015 lists of most attractive travel destinations including including Fodor’s Travel, Buzzfeed, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and Travel & Leisure. – Crain’s Cleveland Business